Kate Harveston: The Republican Party was warned not to lose their rapport with minorities in the early 2000s. They have done precisely that, and with Trump at the helm, they are becoming the party of misogyny and bigotry.

Robert Reich: I, for one, regret its passing. Our nation needs political parties to connect up different groups of Americans, sift through prospective candidates, deliberate over priorities, identify common principles, and forge a platform. Republican Party Died

Lawrence Wittner: Now that the Republican Party―the conservative voice in mainstream U.S. electoral politics―has attained the most thoroughgoing control of Congress that it has enjoyed since 1928, it’s an appropriate time to take a good look at modern conservatism.

RJ Eskow: The GOP’s policies are horrifying. But the word “evil” is like a dangerous spell that can turn on the one who uses it. It can quickly turn righteous anger into inchoate rage, which makes a person less effective and occludes moral clarity.

Jerry Drucker: In spite of what the NRA, the Tea Party or today’s Republican’s might say, the Founders never had the thought of overthrowing the United States government, nor the use of guns to protect us from ourselves.

Randy Shaw: Democratic success in 2014 hinges not on the impact of the IRS and other “scandals” but on passing comprehensive immigration reform, rejecting the Keystone XL Pipeline, and avoiding a budget deal that undermines Social Security.

Tom Hall: Wouldn’t it be great if this latest Pentagon boondoggle to shovel more taxpayer dollars out the door for worthless crap brought together progressives and tea baggers in opposition to real government waste?

Wendy Block: It’s heartbreakingly clear that the Democrats won’t act courageously. But a number of non-partisan outside groups will. The MOVI coalition and Common Cause are sponsoring Prop C on the Los Angeles ballot next month, to let voters tell electeds to fight Citizens United. They need you.

Julie Driscoll: Cantor can continue to talk out of both sides of his mouth in an effort to re-brand Republican “messaging,” but the proof is in the pudding: Anyone who votes consistently against rights for same sex couples is a bigot, small-minded, and destined to stay that way.

Tom Hall: The Roberts Court’s formal gutting of the 1965 Voting Rights Act will be announced later this spring, after the weather has warmed up, after the school year has ended. After young black men in cities around the nation will join their fathers, standing on line to apply for jobs they won’t be given.

Los Angeles

Cheryl Dorsey: Beck is leaving two years before completing his second term. I bet if you were to ask the parents of Ezell Ford—the unarmed 25-year-old black man killed by LAPD officers in 2014—they’d probably say that they wished Beck had left a lot sooner.

Economic Issues

RJ Eskow: If today’s resistance is to become a lasting movement, we must decide what we’re for. Otherwise, the Resistance will fail to motivate the 38 percent of Americans who didn’t vote in the last election.